


what happens in dueling club...

by magicmagnus



Series: hogwarts professor au [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec is gay but water is wet, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Magnus is better than everyone but what else is new, Pining, Pre-Slash, Shenanigans, Teacher!Alec, Teacher!Magnus, is it a meet cute if you've already met? and if the circumstances are a bit suspect?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 20:36:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicmagnus/pseuds/magicmagnus
Summary: ...stays in dueling club.Alec Lightwood has only been teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts for a few months, but already it's been one of the most exhausting challenges of his life. When a first year lets slip that a group of students have formed an underground dueling ring, Alec is frantic to break it up -- an ordeal that leads to an unexpected friendship with Magnus Bane, Postionsmaster extraordinaire.Or, one of Alec and Magnus' first interactions at Hogwarts, and the beginning of a beautiful friendship (and a particularly intense case of pining...)





	what happens in dueling club...

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! I'd like to say the long anticipated sequel, but I'm not sure if that would be correct; I don't know if anyone has been anticipating anything, and this is actually a prequel. If you haven't read the first in the series, you can read it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12702216). This one takes place a few years before the next one. The stories are designed as snapshots of Alec and Magnus' lives, so it really doesn't matter which one you read first. As long as you read them both. And you review! 
> 
> This is dedicated to my dear Maz, who has been (not so) patiently waiting for this update for a long time. Your wait is over Maz, hope you enjoy! To you and everyone else who has been waiting, I promise you won't have to wait five months for the next update. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Alec rushed through the deserted halls of Hogwarts, wand clenched tightly in his hand. The walls flickered with light from the candle sconces and chandeliers overhead, the same continuously burning candles that had decorated the halls since Alec’s own time studying at Hogwarts. Other than that, the halls were dark -- far too dark for students to be running around unattended.

It hadn’t been long since Alec had accepted the post at Hogwarts, and already he was chasing down students in the dead of night, trying to locate a gaggle of missing teenagers. The first few weeks of his interim position as Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor had been rocky, and just when he was finally getting the hang of things, a first year had let slip that students were sneaking off in the middle of the night to form an underground duelling ring.

Idly running his fingers over his wand, Alec jogged up a moving staircase. His own time as a student at Hogwarts hadn’t been too long ago, and yet it felt like a lifetime had passed. Barring a few mischievous stunts Izzy had dragged him into, the seven years of his education had been far less exciting than his first month and a half as a teacher.

He ran around a corridor and toward the last staircase, inwardly cursing the students for choosing the seventh floor for their little hideout. He glanced at his watch -- the same one he had received on his seventeenth birthday -- and scowled at the time. It was nearly midnight, and he had an early morning. He could only imagine what the headmaster would say when she was woken up with the news.

The only sound in the Hall of Hexes were his own, hurried footsteps, so Alec was surprised when he rounded the corner to see Magnus Bane pacing back and forth. Alec’s eyes widened, and he nearly tripped over his robe.

Alec’s mouth went dry. It was the first time the two had seen one another outside of work (not that work ever truly ended for a Hogwarts professor), and Alec was surprised to see Magnus wearing muggle clothing -- notably, a silky blue shirt with a detailed (and low ) neckline. He looked up and smiled when he saw Alec.

“Um,” said Alec. “Hi.”

“Hello,” greeted Magnus. “Taking a late night stroll around the grounds?”

“Not quite.”

“Ah,” said Magnus. “Then you must be looking for a horde of missing students who may or may not be blasting each other to pieces as we speak.” Surprised by his flippant tone, Alec raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” he said. “Actually, I am. You knew about it?”

“Only recently,” said Magnus. He strode thoughtfully across the hall, shoulder brushing Alec’s as he passed. “Madame Loss came to me after a student turned up in her infirmary with a burn from a blasting curse. I thought I’d finally had an evening off the grounds, and instead here I am, trying to find some secret entrance.” He turned and smiled at Alec, hand thoughtfully running over the tapestry on the wall. “At least I’m not alone.”

“Um, yeah,” said Alec. “One of the Gryffindor prefects came to me. I figured they would be up here.”

Magnus arched an eyebrow. On the tapestry in front of him, Barnabas the Barmy dodged the satin shoes of the clumsy trolls he had infamously tried to teach ballet, the finely woven threads eternally twisting and tangling together. “What makes you say that?” Magnus asked, carefully pulling the tapestry aside to reveal nothing but a flat expanse of grey stone.

Alec blinked, watching him. “The Room of Requirement, of course. What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to find the entrance,” Magnus said. He released the corner of the tapestry and it fell heavily against the wall. Wiping his hands on his jeans, he turned back toward Alec with a sigh. “I’ve been wandering the Hall of Hexes for a while now, and have yet to find it. I’ve tried every summoning and revealing charm I can think of.”

“You’re closer than you think,” said Alec. He gestured to the wall behind him, and Magnus raised an eyebrow.

Without even pulling the wand from the back pocket of his tight, dark jeans, Magnus lifted a hand and said, “ Revelio. ” A burst of magic rippled over the wall, illuminating the dim hallway, and then -- nothing.

Alec raised his eyebrows, momentarily stunned. Back at the Ministry, he had worked with some of the best Aurors on the continent, and yet few of them could perform wandless magic -- not well, at least. “Yeah,” he said slowly, “that’s not going to work. Watch,” he said, taking a few steps down the hall.

Magnus turned to follow him, and Alec suddenly felt heat climb up his neck under the weight of Magnus’ gaze. He cleared his throat.

“Not a lot of people know this is here,” Alec said, walking across the hall as he spoke. “My sister and I found it when I was in my fifth year, trying to run from some kind of problem she caused. It was our little hideaway for a while.”

He crossed the hall three times, thinking intently about the Duelling Club, visualizing each of the students he knew to be a member in his mind. Just as he finished the final turn, a set of doors materialized on the wall.

“How did you do that?” asked Magnus. For the first time since Alec had met him, he looked surprised, rather than smooth and unshakeable.

“It’s the Room of Requirement,” Alec repeated. “If you walk past it three times thinking of what you need, it’ll appear. So if you’re a student who needs a secret hideout for duelling in the middle of the night, it’ll give you just that.”

“That’s amazing,” said Magnus, stepping past Alec to examine the door. “You said most people don’t know about it?”

“I don’t even think a lot of the other professors know about it,” Alec said. “And few of the students. A lot of people stumble upon it once and then never find it again.” He paused, watching Magnus, and then asked, “You… didn’t go to Hogwarts, right?”

It was a silly question. Famous as he may have been, Magnus had always been an elusive one. Alec remembered the way his heart had pounded in admiration the first day they had met, when the world class Potionsmaster Magnus Bane had shaken his hand and given him a wink at the beginning of the year. He had surfaced out of obscurity at the beginning of his lucrative career, and then shocked the world when he suddenly retired his services to teach at Hogwarts. Alec knew almost nothing about Magnus, but he was certain that he would have remembered him had their paths crossed years before.

Magnus smirked at the question. “I did not. My education was far less… formal than that.” He drummed his fingers against the door, quirking an eyebrow at Alec. “Shall we?”

“After you.”

Without further invitation, Magnus pushed open the tall doors. In front of them sprawled a huge room, the same one Alec remembered from afternoons spent tucked away, hidden from professors and other students. The vaulted ceilings and stone walls were plain this time, adorned with only a few flyers advertising the club. A crowd of students jeered as two of their peers duelled in front of them, haphazardly flinging curses back and forth.

“Excuse me,” said Magnus, placing a hand on one student’s shoulder. The boy -- probably about thirteen or fourteen, stepped aside easily, eventually tearing his eyes away from the duel to give Magnus a vague glance before looking back to the duel. Realization struck quickly; the student whipped his head around and stared at Magnus, stuttering out a swear. A whisper broke out across the crowd, and then students were parting in Magnus’ wake as he moved toward the still dueling students. Alec stormed after him.

“ Expelliarmus, ” Magnus said calmly when he reached the front of the crowd, eyes locked on one of the students. Raphael Santiago’s wand went flying. It hit a wall and clattered to the ground, the sound echoing through the hushed Room of Requirement. Raphael’s eyes went wide and he moved to grab it. Magnus stopped him with a glance.

Across from him, Clary Fray lowered her wand. Her cheeks went red with shame when Magnus turned his calm gaze to her. The two students retreated back into the crowd, Raphael still wandless. Magnus conteplated the crowd silently, as if gauging the situation.

Alec was less composed. He whirled around to look at the crowd full of students, suddenly burning with a quiet rage greater than he had anticipated. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

He was met with silence. Students averted their gaze. A few tried to quietly slink toward the exit, but stopped when Alec’s cold glare landed on them.

“Who is responsible for this?” Alec asked, jaw tight and shoulders squared. Behind him, Magnus observed without a word. “I am certain you are all aware, but under no circumstances are students allowed to roam the grounds at night. Not only is it reckless and disrespectful, it’s dangerous. Running an underground dueling ring is absolutely unacceptable, and most likely grounds for expulsion.” He looked out again at the crowd of silent students, many of them averting their eyes or trying to duck behind taller students. “Which one of you is responsible for this?” Alec repeated.

Clary Fray’s eyes darted toward Magnus. He gave a small shake of his head, and she huffed.

After a long moment of silence, Alec cleared his throat. “All right,” he said, “until one of you confesses, every one of you will be subjected to a disciplinary meeting with professor Herondale --”

A gasp went up, and whispers scattered across the room.

“-- and all of you will receive detention for your actions. Any ringleaders will be stripped of their ability to partake in extra-curricular activities, including excursions from the grounds..”

“But that’s not --” Clary started, stepping forward. Alec looked down at her, and she clamped her jaw shut. She was a third year, clad in jeans and a sweater, and her green eyes shone with frustration. She was far too young to be down here gambling with her life in a group of unpracticed young wizards playing as Aurors.

“Do you have something to say, Miss Fray?”

Clary’s gaze darted around the group uncertainly, and then she said, “It was my fault. I’m the one who did it. You should punish me, but the rest of them didn’t do anything --”

“-- Clary, no!” a dismayed Simon Lewis stepped forward, placing a hand on her arm. He tried to guide her back, and she brushed his hand away.

“It was my fault,” she said adamantly. “I should be the one to get in trouble.”

Alec looked out at the group. “Is this true?” he asked, studying their expressions. None of them would meet his eye.

Simon muttered something, and stepped forward again. “No,” he said, finally. “No, it was me too --”

“It was a few of us,” said Raphael, his expression as apathetic and unreadable as ever.

Alec looked around. “Thank you for sharing. The rest of the punishment still stands --”

“No!”

“You can’t!”

“-- and the three of you, and any other conspirators, will be meeting with the headmistress for a disciplinary hearing.” Alec held his chin up. “I understand that this may seem harsh to you, but what the group of you were doing here wasn’t just stupid. It was dangerous. Someone could have been killed.”

“It’s only because --” Simon started, and then muttered something under his breath.

“Yes, Mister Lewis? Would you like to share?”

“It’s only because you haven’t taught us anything !” exclaimed Simon. He waved around frantically toward the group. “It wasn’t just me, or Clary, or Raphael -- all of us agree. All we’ve done for the last month and a half is read through the textbook. We haven’t learned a single thing.”

Simon’s words seemed to echo through the quiet room, landing on Alec like a slap. He looked at the group, stunned, and asked, “Is that how all of you feel?”

The room was silent. A few brave students nodded, but many averted their eyes, or shuffled uncomfortably. Alec struggled for words, at a loss for what to say.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to say anything.

“That’s enough, Mister Lewis,” said Magnus, casually pushing himself from the pillar he had been leaning on. With a casual flick of his wrist, he summoned Raphael’s wand from where it lay against the flagstones. It went flying into Magnus’ outstretched hand, and then he threw it to Raphael, who clumsily lunged for it. Magnus stepped forward, coming to stand just near Alec.

He looked taller, somehow. It was no secret that Magnus was a metamorphmagus, and for a moment Alec wondered if Magnus had altered his height. It wasn’t that, though -- standing tall and stern, Magnus had abandoned the languid and nonchalant demeanor Alec had seen earlier. His presence commanded the attention of the room.

“We are very fortunate to have Professor Lightwood among us,” Magnus said, tone calm but firm. “He is an accomplished and decorated Auror, and one that many of you could learn much from in the time he is here. Whether you agree with his methods or not, everything Professor Lightwood does, he does for your safety and benefit.” He glanced around the room. The students were abashed, and yet alert. They watched him not with fear, as they had with Alec, but with a kind of resigned respect. “I trust that in the future, you will bring any of your grievances directly to him. Understand?

Magnus studied them, eyebrow raised. As if unintentionally, a few streaks of white veined themselves through his dark, perfectly styled hair, and Alec found himself transfixed. Many of the students nodded their heads; a few murmured their assent.

“Wonderful,” said Magnus. “What all of you have done here was reckless, dangerous and, as Professor Lightwood has informed us,” his mouth quirked upward for a moment, almost into a smile, “very stupid. However, if Professor Lightwood is alright with it, I am willing to let this slide under Professor Herondale’s radar,” Magnus said. He shifted his piercing gaze toward Alec. “She is a very busy woman, and I think we can all agree that no one would like to be removed from the grounds.”

Alec was shocked, but for some reason, he found himself nodding. Magnus smiled.

“That being said,” Magnus stated, “his other punishments still stand. Every single one of you will be doing detention with either Professor Lightwood or me for the next four weeks. Thirty five points will be taken from each of your houses, per student, and I am suspending each of you from leaving the grounds for four weeks.”

Simon groaned. Clary stared at Magnus, mouth hanging open.

A fourth year Slytherin rolled his eyes. “Are you s-”

“Serious? I am,” said Magnus. “And if anyone would like to argue, I will remove any quidditch players,” his eyes landed meaningfully on Clary, and then on a few other students, “from the ongoing tournament.”

That, Alec noticed, was the most effective of the threats. Clary begrudgingly stuck her wand in her back pocket, mouth still pressed together in a thin line of frustration.

“Now, it is quite late, and Professor Lightwood and I are not as young as we used to be. Go to your dormitories.”

As the students began to file out of the Room of Requirement, Alec took note of their names, houses, and years. By the time he had a full list, the crowd had narrowed down to only two: Clary Fray and Simon Lewis stood talking to Magnus, heads bowed. Alec approached them warily.

“-- and I am very disappointed in you, Clarissa,” Magnus was admonishing, a frown on his face. He sighed. “But perhaps not surprised. One of you two should have told me immediately.”

“What happens in dueling club, stays in dueling club?” Simon joked, weakly.

Magnus fixed him with an unamused gaze. “Unfortunately, Simon, Hogwarts is not the best place to keep a secret.” He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “To your dormitories, both of you.”

Simon nearly ran into Alec as he turned around. His young face went as red as the Star Wars T-Shirt he was wearing. He fiddled with his wand awkwardly.

“Professor L-Lightwood,” he stuttered out, at a loss. “Earlier, I -- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean --”

“It’s fine, Mister Lewis,” Alec said, suddenly tired.. “Just…. Go to bed, you two.”

The two scurried out of the Room of Requirement as fast as they could, the loud door thudding behind them. Alec deflated immediately, sighing and running a hand through his hair. Magnus observed him with a small, unreadable smile.

“Alright, Professor,” he said, clapping a hand to Alec’s shoulder. “Come with me. I know exactly what you need.”

A few twisting halls and winding staircases later, Magnus was unlocking the door to his office. Although tired from the events of the night, Alec looked around curiously as Magnus let him in, eyes darting around the room.

The office was nice -- at least, a lot nicer than the broom closet they had apologetically stuck Alec in. The room was spacious and beautifully decorated, if a bit cluttered. A pair of plush armchairs and a couch sat clustered around the hearth. The walls of bookshelves lining the walls were apparently not sufficient for Magnus’ collection, because a few tall stacks of them teetered haphazardly in towers against the wall and by the desk. The tops of the bookshelves were covered in knicknacks, art, and specimens collected from Magnus’ many journeys. Alec quirked his eyebrows, looking at the large, shiny basilisk scale displayed on top of one of the bookshelves. He had read about it, once, in one of Magnus’ books….

“Feel free to have a seat,” Magnus said, snapping his fingers toward the hearth as he crossed the room. A fire roared to life immediately. Magnus crossed toward his desk, and began rooting around in one of the drawers. Alec pulled himself away from the basilisk scale and followed Magnus, drifting toward the straight-backed chair that sat in front of Magnus’ desk.

When Magnus looked up from the drawer he was digging around in and saw Alec sitting quietly in the chair, he laughed out loud. “You aren’t a student, Professor Lightwood, and you certainly aren’t in any trouble. The armchairs are fine.”

“Oh,” said Alec, warmth flooding his face, and he awkwardly followed Magnus’ instructions.

Magnus followed not long after, two glasses and a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. “I must say, this isn’t the worst evening I’ve ever had,” Magnus said offhandedly, pouring a glass of the firewhiskey and handing it to Alec. “It gets easier.”

Alec snorted, taking the whiskey. He eyed the red liquid suspiciously. He had never been a drinker, but despite the gruelling hours and the near death experiences of being an Auror, he wasn’t sure that anything he had encountered while working for the Ministry had been quite as stressful as this position. He knocked the glass of whiskey back like a shot. Then, he immediately spluttered at the burn.

Magnus laughed out loud. He topped Alec’s glass off, then set the bottle on the table and settled himself into the armchair next to Alec’s. Alec watched as he moved; his every movement seemed both deliberate and effortless, and the muggle clothing highlighted the graceful ease with which he drifted around the room.

“That certainly works too, but you’re supposed to sip it. I might have something else, if you’d prefer?”

“No,” said Alec, still wheezing. “No, this is -- this is good.”

Magnus quirked an eyebrow, smiling, and took a sip of his whiskey. “You know,” he said, swirling the whiskey around in his glass, “in my first year teaching here, a fifth year brought a dragon’s egg back with him. He had been in Hungary visiting family over the holiday, and happened upon a nest in the country somewhere.”

“Back… to Hogwarts?” Alec asked, eyebrows raised. His head was already spinning with that information -- all of the rules and regulations that were being broken, not to mention laws -- but he found himself focusing, more than anything, on how inherently dangerous and absurd it was to keep a dragon, no matter how young, in a dorm room.

Magnus nodded. “Oh, yes,” he said, almost casually, “he kept it bundled in sweaters in his trunk, and then forgot about it. Can you imagine -- opening your trunk to search for a jumper, and finding an infant Hungarian Horntail instead?” Magnus shook his head, smiling. “He and his roommates did manage to keep it a secret, until one of them came to me asking a million unnecessary questions about how to heal a dragon’s bite. That isn’t exactly easy. We managed to get ahold of someone to take it away, to a reserve in Romania.”

“You didn’t report it to the Ministry?” Alec asked, alarmed. Transporting magical beasts was akin to smuggling. The Ministry penalty was severe.

“Of course not,” Magnus said, laughing. “The ministry is no fan of mine, Alexander.” He didn’t seem to notice the slip up, but Alec did; for some reason, his heart was hammering away in his chest as if he were running around the halls again, looking for errant students. It was the first time Magnus had addressed him by his given name. Magnus continued on, unphased, “And in any case, I wouldn’t have wanted to jeopardize that young man’s future. What he did was foolish, and reckless, and certainly dangerous, but it wasn’t malicious. But going into that dorm room, and seeing the singed curtains, and the angry bite on that student’s forearm? I was terrified. More terrified than I had been in a long time.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “Of a baby dragon?” he asked, doubtful. He had read Magnus’ books. It wasn’t the first time Magnus had faced down a dragon; this was someone who had shoved his arm into a live basilisk’s mouth for a sample of its venom, for Merlin’s sake.

Magnus laughed. “I wasn’t afraid of the dragon for myself, Alexander. I was afraid for the same reason that you were white as a sheet when you rounded that corner and nearly ran into me this evening.”

Letting those words sink in, Alec took a sip off of the remainder of his whiskey. When the first year student had, breathlessly and nearly in tears, told him about the duelling club, panic had coursed through his veins. As an Auror, Alec had been trained to stay calm and rational regardless of the situation. In his years tracking down dangerous wizards, he had never in his life felt the same instant, palpable fear as he had when he realized what the students were doing.

He took a longer sip off of his whiskey, wincing as it burned its way down his throat.

Magnus laughed. “I would do anything to protect the students of Hogwarts. In a way, they’re like my own children. I have felt that same dread hundreds of times since I began teaching at Hogwarts, and I don’t expect it to go away.”

“Are they always so…..” Alec frowned, at a loss for words, “frustrating?”

“Absolutely,” said Magnus, leaning back in his chair. “Sometimes, you want to rip them from the very jaws of death just to kill them yourself,” he joked. “But it’s important to remember, Alexander, that you are not angry with them during those situations. You’re worried about them.”

Magnus let that hang in the air. Alec trained his eyes on the crackling fire on the hearth, lost in the familiar comfort of the sound. If he closed his eyes, it was like he was back in the library of his parents’ manor, or in the Gryffindor common room as a student. He took another drink, if only for lack of anything better to do.

“Do you think Simon was right?” Alec asked, eyes darting down to his glass. “That I’ve taught them nothing?”

Humming, Magnus turned to regard Alec. After a moment, he said, “No. I meant what I said earlier. I trust that whatever your methods, they are for the best of the students.”

“It’s just -- It’s just, there are so few eligible N.E.W.T. students coming out of Hogwarts,” Alec explained, “and the ones who do, the recruits… so many of them make mistakes. Stupid mistakes, ones that could just get them killed, because they started practicing certain spells too soon, or didn’t know the theory behind using silver against werewolves. It’s not just flinging around blasting curses all the time. Defense Against the Dark Arts is hard work.”

“I believe you,” said Magnus. “My first years spend months just reading the textbooks before they can even touch a cauldron. Just throw in some practical applications here or there. They might not care for it now, but eventually, they will come to appreciate it.” He chuckled, and with a wave of his finger, the bottle of firewhiskey came floating away from the table and toward him.

Alec watched the way it hovered in the air, bobbing toward Magnus until it dropped in his hand. He raised an eyebrow, giving a vague gesture. “How do you do that?”

“Drink the whiskey? It’s an acquired taste.”

“No, I mean, that.” Alec gave an exaggerated flourish, as if to demonstrate. “Earlier you did it too, in the Hall of Hexes. And then with Raphael’s wand.”

Magnus rolled his eyes and stood, fishing his wand from where it was still jutting out of his back pocket, as if he didn’t have a care in the world that it might be snapped. Alec gawked at just the thought of sitting on his wand.“I can not believe that European wizardry was built with these… sticks ,” he said with joking disdain. He twirled the wand around in his fingers. “I suppose they can be useful for channeling magic for powerful spells, but mostly I use it for teaching. We don’t use them, where I’m from.”

“No one?” Alec asked, curiosity piqued. For all of Magnus’ fame, very little was known about his youth, or his personal life. He had always been something of a nomad, a private contractor, and had never written about his early life in any of his books.

“Tourists,” Magnus joked. “I’d say it’s fairly common in the non-Western world. I didn’t even start using one until I was already an adult. It’s a shame, really.” He stuck the wand behind his ear, sighing. “It’s so easy to learn how to use a wand, yet so hard to unlearn it. It can be quite the crutch when you’re in a bind.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” said Alec. “Could you teach me?”

“Oh?” asked Magnus, mouth curving into a smile. “Would you like a private lesson, Professor Lightwood?”

Alec swallowed, unsure if he was imagining the flirty lilt to Magnus’ tone. “I’d love one,” he said back, as evenly as he could.

“It would probably take a few lessons.”

“I’ve got time.”

Magnus smiled. He shook the firewhiskey bottle delicately in question; more out of a desire to keep their chat going than anything else, Alec nodded and held his glass out for Magnus to top off.

“It’s far too late for that tonight,” Magnus said, passing the glass back. “In the meantime, I would like to hear more about you, Alexander.”

Alec didn’t really know what there was to talk about. The circumstances surrounding his sudden departure from the Ministry were certainly a source of gossip for the students and faculty of Hogwarts. The majority of the students were too young to be worrying about Ministry politics, but more than one of the other professors had hedged in a few comments about it. Alec took a sip; he had come to Hogwarts to escape the Ministry drama, not to relive it.

“What about your sister?” asked Magnus, catching Alec off guard. “You mentioned you found the Room of Requirement because of her, right?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Alec, surprised. He kept to himself, but he could talk about his siblings for days. “Izzy. She’s a troublemaker. She was always dragging me into something back then.”

Magnus smiled. “I’d love to hear about it.”

“Izzy must have been only in her second year,” Alec said, remembering with fondness how Izzy could be both adorable and annoying at that age, “and she wanted to be able to sneak out of the dorms to get food from the kitchens at night. She decided the best plan of action would be to use a polyjuice potion to impersonate a prefect --”

“--polyjuice potion?” Magnus asked, eyebrows raised. “That’s quite ambitious for a twelve year old.”

“Izzy’s incredible. Far brighter than any of her peers. She didn’t tell me about her plan, but…”

Shadows danced on the walls around the two of them, cast by the flickering light of the fire on the hearth. The room was pleasantly warm -- from the fire, the drink, or the company, Alec wasn’t quite sure. Sipping on Magnus’ expensive whiskey and sitting in the plush armchair, Alec found himself able to truly relax for the first time in months, spinning stories after stories about the adventures he had been unwillingly dragged into during his time at Hogwarts. Magnus was the perfect audience; he laughed and asked questions at the right times, and Alec was able to eventually coax him into telling stories of his own.

“...and I doubt I’ll ever be allowed back in Peru again,” Magnus finished. He shook his head in exasperation. “Though I still maintain that it was, technically, Ragnor’s fault.”

“And what does Ragnor think?”

“Oh, he denies that it ever happened at all.”

That set the two of them laughing again. Alec couldn’t even remember the last time he had laughed so hard. He felt lighter here -- not only at Hogwarts, away from the political minefield of the Ministry, but also in Magnus’ warm office, sharing stories and speaking candidly. The combination of the warm room and the drink made him a little drowsy, but he found himself unwilling to leave. It felt nice, in a way, to let his guard down.

Of course, when he was coaxed awake by a gentle hand on his shoulder, Alec realized with embarrassment that he had, maybe, let his guard down too much. He looked up to see Magnus standing over him, gently pulling the empty glass from his hands.

“I think it’s about time for someone to get to bed,” Magnus said quietly, setting the two glasses on the table.

Alec looked up at him, head feeling foggy. Not for the first time, he noticed now nice Magnus looked -- dressed up in muggle clothes, radiating warmth and charm. He let Magnus’ words sink in, then bolted upright.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“You dozed,” Magnus said, clearly amused. “I hate to wake you up, but I didn’t want to leave you on that chair all night. In any cases, who knows what the students would say in the morning if I did.”

“Yeah,” Alec said, slowly. He somehow felt even more tired sitting upright. His eyes flicked to his watch, examining its deep blue face with surprise. It was nearing two in the morning; he had been in Magnus’ loft for almost three hours, just chatting.

Magnus walked him to the door. Alec mused that he would like to see Magnus’ office in the light of day sometime; the eclectic array of knick knacks and artifacts were certainly worth looking through.

“Thank you for --” Alec wasn’t sure what he was thanking Magnus for. The whiskey? The advice? The laughter? “Everything,” he settled on. “It was -- I really appreciated it.”

“Anytime,” Magnus said, leaning on the doorframe. “You’re welcome in my office anytime, Professor.”

Alec’s mouth quirked into a smile at the way Magnus said that -- somehow fun and joking, rather than stiff and awkward. “I might take you up on that.”

Magnus hummed. “Yes, we still have that private lesson.”

Warmth flooded Alec’s cheeks; he hoped it was too dark for Magnus to notice. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Smiling enigmatically, Magnus drummed his fingers on the door. “Get some sleep.”

“You too,” Alec said, turning to leave.

“And Alexander?”

Alec turned around again, an eyebrow raised.

“It gets easier with time,” Magnus said, voice sincere, “even if it seems impossible now. For what it’s worth, I think you’re going to make a great teacher.”

It didn’t matter that it was a temporary position, or that Alec had just had one of the most stressful evenings of his life; for some reason, hearing Magnus say that warmed him more than any promotion or assignment at the Ministry ever had.

“Can I ask you a question?” He blurted out before he could stop himself.

“Of course.”

“Why are you so…” Alec gestured vaguely at Magnus, unsure of how to communicate what he was saying “...dressed up?”

Magnus looked down at his silky blue shirt, tangling his fingers into the necklaces draped over his chest as if he had forgotten they were there. “Oh,” he said, sounding surprised by the question, “I had a date.”

The hallway was both colder and darker than the cozy oasis of Magnus’ office -- or so Alec told himself. He suddenly felt as if he had been doused with ice water, disappointment soaking him to the bone.

“Oh,” he echoed, stupidly. “I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t --”

Magnus shook his head, a small, rueful smile on his face. “You didn’t intrude. She canceled on me last minute,” he said, a hint of resignation in his tone that implied it wasn’t the first time this had happened. His mouth curved into a smirk. “I suppose it was for the best. If I hadn’t been there tonight, you might have expelled all of those students.

Alec’s face flushed red, and Magnus laughed. “I really overreacted, didn’t I?”

“Maybe a little. But like I said. It gets easier.”

“I hope so. I’m sorry about your date.”

“Don’t be,” Magnus said. His eyes glinted gold, illuminated by the flickering light of the candle sconces. “I had a great time tonight.”

His words were quiet, but they seemed amplified in the deserted hall. Alec’s mouth felt dry. He didn’t know if he would ever grow accustomed to the intensity of Magnus’ gaze.

“Yeah,” he said slowly, “Yeah, me too.”

Magnus smiled. “Good night, Alexander. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow.”

“You too.”

The door closed, and Alec was suddenly alone in the labyrinth that was Hogwarts. It was quiet, the silence only broken by the occasional snore from one of the paintings lining the walls. The rest of the castle slept around him, and yet Alec felt as if something inside of him had finally awakened. Unconsciously, he pressed a hand to his chest. He could feel the rapid beat of his heart even through the layers of his robes.

He had to cross through his own office to get to his bedchamber. It seemed so much darker and emptier than Magnus’, he noticed, and made a mental note to throw something on the walls -- maybe some pictures of his siblings. Alec had never decorated his office at the Ministry; he hadn’t spent much time in it anyway. He looked around the small office. Despite his plans to stay just until the commotion at the Ministry had blown over, and despite the exhausting events of the evening, Alec had a feeling he was going to be sticking around for a while.

He didn’t know what the next day was going to bring. It was impossible to anticipate what kind of mischief the students would get up to, or which mundane learning experience could go drastically wrong. Hogwarts, he was learning, was even more eventful as a professor than it had been as a student, and he doubted any magic could predict what would happen next.

The one thing he did know, however, was that he would be seeing Magnus at breakfast the next morning. Alec was looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact -- when I was in high school, a group of students started an underground fight club. Teenagers, man...
> 
> Did you love it? Did you hate it? Did you laugh? Did you cry? Let me know what you think! I adore comments of all sorts, and I'd love to hear what you think. I have a lot planned for this series, and it's always nice to know that people are reading it and enjoying it as I write the rest. 
> 
> If you haven't read the first part (which, chronologically, is actually the second part), make sure to check it out [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12702216)! You can also find me on tumblr as [magicmagnus](https://magicmagnus.tumblr.com). I post shorter fics, headcanons, etc, etc there, and would love to talk to anyone who will listen about this AU. Literally, ask me anything about anyone in this 'verse, and I'll have something to say. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, thanks!


End file.
